I’ll confess when this cover came across my desk, I had only heard The Beatles‘ cover of Chuck Berry‘s ‘Too Much Monkey Business’, and presumed that singer-songwriter Bruce Hornsby’s cover would be of a similar vein. I couldn’t have been more wrong.
Hornsby delivers the main lyric in an almost spoken-word style, and the mix brings the beat of the song to the forefront. This combined with the song being slowed down slightly gives it a real 90s hip-hop vibe; you’d swear the piano interventions were samples from a jazz album you’d never heard of. This change of style totally suits the track. Hornsby’s delivery turns the tone of the song from being annoyed at all of the nonsense to it almost becoming a tale of his life experience.
This track will be on Hornsby’s new album, ‘Flicted, out May 27th. In the meantime, check out the cover below.
Check out more Chuck Berry covers here.
Have a listen to this Leon Russell version of ‘Too Much…’ here
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SMhCnIuVa74
Sounds ‘Too Much’ the same to me.
Damn, that was AWESOME! I have been on a Hornsby kick lately after hearing some live recordings from the field of his shows over the past 25 years. The guy is an AMAZING musician and I never really realized it until recently.
And thanks for putting this record on my list to buy. I hadn’t heard a word about it – yet another one you’ve featured on your blog that I’d be oblivious to otherwise.